During the conversation, Fenech said Cutajar had told Azzopardi he would do well to try and be half the man he [Fenech] was, and lambasted the PN MP as “spiteful and desperate” (ja mejjet bil-ġuħ aħdar).

“When [Azzopardi] responded, he said ‘Hon, the courts will see. Off mic, she told him ‘You’ll see it in your fucking family, you arsehole’ (loosely translated from ‘se tarah żobb f’għoxx familtek ja liba’).”

Azzopardi said Cutajar had called him out because he and former leader Simon Busuttil were the only two PN MPs who had criticised Fenech by name after he was revealed to be the owner of 17 Black.

“This is unlike those who were bought by Yorgen Fenech and who started sending him messages during the debate,” the MP said, an ostensible reference to then PN leader Adrian Delia, who Fenech claimed had messaged him during the debate.

Delia has denied messaging Fenech during this debate and has filed a libel suit against Lovin Malta for reporting on this conversation.

Azzopardi added that Fenech had allegedly tried to purchase 800 bullets, two hand grenades, two rifles and two pistols 13 days after the debate, accusations he is facing charges over.

Camilleri published the Fenech chats after Cutajar sued him for libel for alleging in his new book A Rent Seeker’s Paradise that she had an affair with Fenech to advance herself politically and that the murder suspect gave her “corrupt money” on the pretence that she helped him broker a property deal.

The author has warned Cutajar that he will become “her worst nightmare” unless she resigns from politics for good. 

Cutajar has not responded to Lovin Malta’s request for comment on Camilleri’s chat publication.   

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